Here are some favourite passages from this dense, rich collection: Had the ecstatic efficiency of its heart thumped to a stop? from "Fire & Darkness: And Also / No Join / Like" Their aura of sociability expanded, spreading with a faint juddering as they drew near. * He was an infant Perseus. He was cause; the rest of the world, effect. * I could not finish the loaf. It was a hungry thing. There was too much time in it. from "Too Solid Flesh" We're readied by being gone again.